[ExI] North Korea's super EMP Bomb

[john clark]

 This sounds like pure crackpot bullshit to me. EMP is caused by ionizing gasses in the upper atmosphere and soft X rays, the primary energy output of thermonuclear bombs, ionizes things just fine, so there would be no point in using Gamma rays; and the idea of a 3 kiloton bomb " emitting more gamma radiation than a 25-megaton nuclear weapon" is nuts. I don't think the author of this article knows much physics,  if you want to make a huge EMP you don't need a new type of bomb, just a regular old H bomb exploded a few hundred miles over Iowa would do a pretty good job fucking up the entire USA. 

 John K Clark
=============

Read more on Newsmax.com:  North Korea Tests 'Super-EMP' Nuke 

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--- On Thu, 6/16/11, Jeff Davis <jrd1415 at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Jeff Davis <jrd1415 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [ExI] North Korea's super EMP Bomb
To: "ExI chat list" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Date: Thursday, June 16, 2011, 10:00 PM

On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 5:01 PM, Kelly Anderson <kellycoinguy at gmail.com> wrote:
> Not QUITE an existential threat until we're all uploaded, but a pretty
> darn big potential threat!
>
> http://www.newsmax.com/KenTimmerman/super-emp-emp-northkorea-nuke/2011/06/16/id/400260
>
> -Kelly

Can't speak to the credibility issue here, because the author Ken
Timmerman is a neocon, perhaps even an extremist among neocons.
Setting that aside however, and assuming that the North Koreans have
adopted the optimized EMP design -- a minimum nuke with a maximum EMP
-- then I have to give the N Koreans credit: very, very smart play.
Huge deterrence multiplier.  Advanced technological societies must be
assessed as profoundly vulnerable by virtue of their comprehensive
dependence -- infrastructure as well as everything else -- on
electronic systems vulnerable to EMP attack.

Boy, talk about bang for your buck!   Way to go Kim!

Best, Jeff Davis

"We're a band of higher primates stuck on the surface
of an atmosphere-hazed dirtball. I can associate with
that. I certainly can't identify with which patch of the dirtball I
currently happen to be on, and which monkey tribe happens to reside
therein.

Only by taking the big view we can make it a common
dream, and then a reality. It's worth it."
                          Eugen Leitl
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